Molecular identification of a root apical cell-specific and stress-responsive enhancer from an Arabidopsis enhancer trap line

BACKGROUND: Plant root apex is the major part to direct the root growth and development by responding to various signals/cues from internal and soil environments. To study and understand root system biology particularly at a molecular and cellular level, an Arabidopsis T-DNA insertional enhancer trap line J3411 expressing reporters (GFP) only in the root tip was adopted in this study to isolate a DNA fragment. RESULTS: Using nested PCR, DNA sequencing and sequence homology search, the T-DNA insertion site(s) and its flanking genes were characterised in J3411 line. Subsequently, a 2000 bp plant DNA-fragment (E(rtip1)) upstream of the insert position of the coding T-DNA was in silico analysed, revealing certain putative promoter/enhancer cis-regulatory elements. Cloning and transformation of this DNA fragment and its truncated segments tagged with or without 35S minimal promoter (35Smini), all of which were fused with a GFP or GUS reporter, allowed to detect GFP and GUS expression mediated only by E(rtip1) + 35mini (P(Ertip1+35Smini)) specifically in the Arabidopsis root tip region. The P(Ertip1+35Smini) activity was further tested to be strong and stable under many different growth conditions but suppressed by cold, salt, alkaline pH and higher ammonium and phosphorus. CONCLUSION: This work describes a promising strategy to isolate a tissue-/cell-specific enhancer sequence from the enhancer trap lines, which are publically available. The reported synthetic promoter i.e. P(Ertip1+35Smini) may provide a valuable and potent molecular-tool for comprehensive investigation of a gene function related to root growth and development as well as molecular engineering of root-architectural formation aiming to improve plant growth. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13007-019-0393-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.